I didn't think I'd like it, but I got one as a gift for Christmas one year, and it was AWESOME. The only problem was that I tend to clap when I laugh, so when I was highly amused the lights in my room would go on and off regularly. And it's pretty unobtrusive, it just plugs right into the outlet, and the lamp plugs into the clapper.

The reason it worked pretty well for me is that my bedroom didn't have a ceiling light, and the lamp couldn't be right by the bedroom door. And the room was very dark after sundown. To get to the lamp in the dark involved tripping over stuff and risking life and limb. So a clap later, my room was well lit and no broken limbs!

My wife totally bought the purse with the little light in it, and I do believe she got this from Target and it was leather-ish.

Gadgets I love with lights:

Bookmarks with a little built-in light.
"Spy" pens with the black light and dissappearing ink. Cheesy fun all over the place!

Also, I work as an editor for a toy company, and we have LOTS of light up fun things and my favorite is when we will get a free promotional toy and it will be months before I discover it lights up! And I could have been lighting that sucker up that whole time, but I had missed out.

I used the Clapper briefly one year for the Christmas tree (this was back in the day before timers were mainstream), and it worked fine until the big party that year and everyone's laughs kept turning the tree on and off (apparently the Clapper will react to ANY staccato noises).

Hi Sara, just subscribed to the podcast (Dotty told me about it on my trip). Oh my God, someone else who bought a pocketbook from Target with the flashlight inside! I thought that was the greatest thing ever when I bought it. Also, I've also caught myself once singing along to a store…it was Closing Time by Semisonic. And I have to say, I also dig the string cheese!

OK, so I'm catching up here. But I had to let you know that I have one of those purses with the little light!! I thought it was such a great idea, but…..I got so tired of the little thing hanging there that I pulled it out with a seem ripper!